Introduction: Intravenous thrombolysis with rt-PA is the key treatment for acute ischemic stroke (IS), and has largely been developed at the Military Teaching Hospital in Toulon since 2003. This report is of the results of our practices compared with those in the literature, as well as our attempts to identify factors predictive of a favorable outcome after thrombolysis.
Methods: All patients treated with rt-PA for IS in the carotid territory between 2003 and 2014 were prospectively included. Disability was assessed at 3 months by modified Rankin Scale (m-RS) scores; outcome was considered unfavorable if the m-RS score was >2. Multivariate analyses were also performed to identify parameters correlating with poor and favorable outcomes.
Results: Of the 289 patients prospectively enrolled in the study [mean initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score: 14.3], 52.5% had an m-RS score >2 at 3 months of follow-up. Three independent predictive factors for poor functional outcomes at the 3-month follow-up were identified: NIHSS score>12 on admission (P=0.048); NIHSS score>8 at discharge (P<0.001); and early neurological worsening within the first 24h (P=0.015). Early neurological improvement within 24h of rt-PA infusion was significantly associated with recanalization of the stroke-related occluded cerebral artery (P<0.001, r=0.37).
Conclusion: After 12 years of practice, our stroke unit has produced results similar to those of the major clinical studies in terms of safety and efficacy. High NIHSS scores on admission and a lack of neurological improvement during the first 24h of thrombolysis due to failure of early recanalization were identified as independent predictive factors of poor functional outcomes.
Keywords: Stroke; Stroke center; Thrombolysis; rt-PA.
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